


The More Thing Change, the More They Stay the Same

by uofmdragon



Series: ICC 2017 prompts [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 14:47:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10515888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uofmdragon/pseuds/uofmdragon
Summary: Phil's football teammate's annoying baby bro grew up and is probably the hottest thing Phil has seen in his life time.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anonymous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymous/gifts).



> Prompt: AU Where Phil's football teammate's annoying baby bro grew up and oh no! turned hot.

"Just so you know, my parents have taken in another kid," Nick stated as they walked home from practice towards Nick's house.

Phil nodded. Everyone knew that the Furys took in a kid for a few months every year. Phil had gotten rather use to the string of faces that were Nick's temporary family members.

"He's little odd," Nick added.

Phil arched an eyebrow at Nick. "Odd?"

"You'll see." Nick sounded resigned to this.

"When did he move in?" Phil asked.

"Friday night, why my parents weren't at the game."

Phil nodded. "Sucks."

"Yeah, but…" Nick shook his head. "Kid needed us."

Phil smiled slightly. "You're starting to sound like your parents."

Nick groaned. "I know!" His head rolled forward in shame.

Chuckling softly, Phil let the conversation drop into other things like their first calculus test coming up. It wasn't long before, they were climbing the steps to Nick's porch and entering his house. Phil set his gear down.

"Mom, Clint, I'm home!" Nick called out.

"There's some fruit on the counter if you're hungry," Nia called from her office.

Phil left Nick behind him and headed toward the kitchen. It had been far too long since lunch and food sounded good, before Nick and him started to study. He entered the kitchen, his focus on the food, but paused feeling like someone was watching him. He hadn't heard Nick's footsteps behind him. He glanced at the table, expecting to see Nick's new foster brother seated at it, but it was empty.

Phil grunted softly, grabbing a piece of fruit and going to open the fridge door. 

"Gaah!" Phil fell back as he finally spotted Clint, sitting on top of the fridge watching him.

Nick entered the room, glancing at the fridge, and sighing. "You're not supposed to be up there."

Clint glanced at Nick, before looking back at Phil. Phil looked at Nick, seeking some sort of explanation.

Nick shrugged. "He likes high places."

"Clint, this is my best friend, my right hand man, Phil," Nick said, looking at Clint and gesturing at Phil. "Phil, this wanna be monkey is Clint."

"Nice to meet you," Phil said, offering his hand up to Clint, who watched his hand with suspicion.

"Right, I'm going to grab a gatorade, and Nick and I are going to study." Phil watched him, but Clint made no effort to move. Phil darted in and quickly grabbed a gatorade, before looking at Nick. "Your room?"

"Sure," Nick said. "I'll meet you there."

Phil nodded and headed out of the room.

"You know, Mom will be mad, if she catches you up there."

"So? She's not my mom."

"Right now, she is," Nick said. "You might get hurt."

Clint snorted.

Phil shook his head, glad that he couldn't hear the rest until he made it to Nick's room.

That meeting set the stage for Phil's interaction the next few weeks. Phil could come over, not notice that Clint had climbed or wedged himself up high, until Phil spotted him, scaring himself. Phil thought that Clint was privately amused by scaring Phil. Nick would rolls his eyes at Clint's antics and always calmly talk to him and try get him to come down.

That changed when Phil brought in his Dad's hunting bow that had broken on his last hunt. Nick's father, also Nick, usually was able to fix things. He found the elder Nick sitting at the table.

"Mr. Fury," Phil said. "My dad said he called you about his bow."

"He did," Nick said, gesturing Phil to the table. Phil set the case down just as there was a THUMP behind him.

Phil stiffened, turning to see Clint coming up behind him. The fridge had behind him. "You have a bow?"

"It's my dad's," Phil answered.

"What kind?"

"Hunting?"

"Recurve? Crossbow? Compound?" Clint asked.

Nick huffed. "Know something about bows, huh?"

Clint nodded, slipping past Phil to peer into the case. He glanced at Phil. "It looks expensive."

Phil shrugged. "I don't know, Dad's got a couple, so he can get started on deer season early."

"Do you use 'em?"

"Once or twice."

Later, Phil would realize that this was the moment where it started and where things changed. For the next few weeks, Phil was peppered with questions about the bow hunting and if Phil had gone out and used a bow. What kind of arrows did Phil use? Anything and everything about the bow, Phil was even forced to listen to the history of bows according to Clint. 

Phil was tired of it after the first week. He tried redirecting Clint to other topics, but Clint could always bring the topic back to bows. By the second, he was doing his best to avoid Clint. By the third week, he'd started asking Clint nicely to change the subject. The fourth week was when he finally snapped and told Clint he didn't care about bows and to leave him alone.

Clint stopped mid-speech and his face fell, before he scrambled away from Phil. 

"Clint!" Phil called after him. 

Clint didn't stop and Phil didn't see him again, except when he was with Nia and the elder Nick. Then he was back to the cautious kid that Phil had seen the first month of living with the Furys. He attempted to apologize, but nothing seemed to work.

It soon became too late. Phil was smart and had taken enough classes to graduate early. That along with an eighteenth birthday that fell in the Fall, enabled to Phil to enlist shortly after Christmas alongside Nick.

He remembered Clint, the skinny kid hesitating when he saw Phil and Nick in uniform on the day they were supposed to leave. He seemed to keep an eye on Phil as he moved in to give Nick a hug.

"I'll be home before you know it and I'll write," Nick promised.

Phil wasn't surprised when Nick announced that his parents had adopted Clint. When Phil returned home on his first leave, Clint wasn't to be seen since. Apparently, he was at a summer camp. Years passed and the army separated Phil and Nick, so he stopped hearing about Clint. He kept up with Nick and when Nick left the army after losing an eye to shrapnel, Phil declined to re-enlist when he finished.

Together they enrolled in college and found a house for rent. Nick said, he'd take care of finding a third roommate for them. The third roommate didn't show up the first month of classes. Phil realized it was over a month as he was walking home and noted the chill in the October air. Yes, definitely October and definitely a month, Phil decided to ask Nick as he entered the back door of the house. He paused hearing voices, trying to remember if Nick had mentioned having a study group over.

He headed toward the living room and swallowed as he caught sight of the hottest man on campus. Dirty blond hair cut short and a smile that made the man's face light up as he laughed at something Nick had said. His skin was tan and one of his muscular arms was thrown across the back of the couch, the other hand was holding a bottle of beer. 

"Hey Phil," Nick greeted. "Look who finally decided to join us."

"Hey, they knew I wasn't coming back until winter," hot guy said. "You knew too."

"Our third roommate?" Phil surmised.

"Yeah, little shit," Nick growled. "Took his sweet time."

"Hey, I got 15 minutes, I needed to make some money!"

Phil glanced between the two, realizing that Nick wasn't going to bother with introductions. "Phil Coulson."

There was a brief pause, before hot guy turned to look at Nick. "You owe twenty bucks! I told you he wouldn't recognize me."

"Damnit Cheese," Nick growled, falling back into the couch.

"We've met?" Phil asked, looking between them.

"Hell, yeah, Nick and I are family. Don't worry, Nick already told me that I wasn't allowed on top of the fridge."

Phil blinked, taking a long moment before realizing just who he was looking at. "Clint."

"You couldn't have realized that two minutes ago?" Nick grumbled.

"Well, I…" Phil started, trailing off as he watched take a long swig of his beer. "He's changed a lot."

"Yeah, amazing what three meals a day does to you," Clint replied, gesturing to his body. "Plus a hell of a lot of training."

"Training?" Phil repeated.

Clint blinked, looking at Nick. "He doesn't know?"

Nick hesitated, before shaking his head. "I don't think I mentioned it to him." 

"Huh," Clint grunted, looking back at Phil with interest. "Well, don't tell him now."

"Don't tell me what?" Phil asked, looking at Nick.

Nick shrugged. "Sorry, Phil, Bro Code."

Phil frowned. "I thought we were bros."

"Yeah, but Clint is legally my brother."

Phil sighed, glancing between the two. Both of them were grinning at him. "Fuck you both." He turned and headed into the kitchen.

"Did you bring it?" Nick asked.

"Oh hell, no, I left it with Nia in the old gun safe. I'm not bringing that to the college campus," Clint answered as Phil opened the fridge and grabbed his own beer.

"Makes sense. Sorry, I wasn't…"

"Dude, I should be apologizing, you were injured. If anything, I…"

"I would have kicked your ass if you had missed that," Nick growled.

"There's always another one," Clint replied as Phil stepped back into the room. 

"Another what?" Phil asked, taking a seat next to Clint on the couch.

"Another chance to score it big," Clint replied, giving Phil a grin.

"You still have a thing for bows?" Phil asked. Nick immediately started snickering into his beer.

"Yeah, you could say that," Clint answered.

"You used to follow me around all the time talking about them," Phil reminded him.

"Until you snapped at me," Clint finished.

"And I tried to apologize immediately after."

"Yeah," Clint reached up, rubbing a hand through his hair. Phil tried not to notice how Clint's muscles bulged at the movement. "That was before the therapy really kicked in. I wasn't really interested in apologies, but I'll accept it now."

Phil smiled. "So what have you been up to?"

"This and that, managed to graduate High School, get into college, and pass my first year…"

"You sound surprised."

"Had a lot of holes in my education, so many…" Clint said, shaking his head. "But if everything goes right, I'll still graduate ahead of Nick." Clint stuck his tongue at the other man.

"Brat," Nick growled as a phone went off.

Clint lurched forward and grabbed it. "Hey, Katie-Kate, what's up? Yeah, that's not until… Oh, shit, lost track of time, be there in ten minutes." Clint stood. "Got to go." He was out the door, leaving Phil staring at where Clint's ass had been.

Phil jerked when he felt something hit him and he turned to look at Nick, arching an eyebrow as the sound of a bottle cap hit the floor.

"He seems to have matured," Phil offered.

"You want to tap that ass?"

"That's your brother!" Phil said, attempting to go on offense, because Nick shouldn't be talking like that about his brother.

Nick studied him for a long moment. "He's bi and I swear every guy he's dated that I've met has reminded me of you in someway."

Phil snorted. "Please, he's a kid…"

"He's 22 and you will be 27 on your next birthday. Not that big of age difference."

"No," Phil agreed. "Bi? So this Kate though…"

"Is a friend of his that he thinks of like a sister. He's got a couple of those around campus. Watch out for Natasha."

"Natasha?"

"Clint's best friend from high school. You'll meet her and don't be surprised if she comes out Clint's bedroom in the morning."

"But they're not a thing."

Fury shook his head. "I think you'd be good for him and honestly, I think he'd be good for you."

Phil nodded as he considered it. While he trusted Nick's judgement, he really needed to get a sense of what Clint was interested in and get to know hot Clint.

The first thing he realized was that Clint got up about ten minutes after Phil got up. By then the coffee was usually going and Phil had to intercept Clint and give him a mug or else he'd drink from the pot. Clint would drink the mug in silence, staring at the clock. At 5:56 on the dot, he'd set the cup in sink and head outside. Phil followed him one morning and caught sight of three people waiting outside for him. They would jog off after stretching with Clint.

The second thing was that Phil realized was that Clint had a lot of friends. There was Kate who seemed equal parts of fond and annoyed with Clint. Natasha, who Phil did see coming out Clint's room, and joining his morning run. There was Steve, Sam, and Bucky that would arrive whenever it was Clint's night to cook and usually stayed to do homework around their table once the winter semester started. Wanda and Pietro, local high school students and twin nuisances according to Clint, but that didn't stop him from being their big brother. Nick was the one that informed Phil that Wanda and Pietro were living in a group home and had been for a while. There were more, so many more. At times, it seemed like Clint knew everyone on campus.

The third thing was Clint enjoyed staying in and watching Dog Cops or any TV show more than he enjoyed going out. Phil enjoyed it too, because Clint tended to fall asleep and end up partly on top of Phil. When he did go out and found someone to keep him company, Phil wished for earplugs, because Clint was very vocal. Phil never spotted the same partner twice and Clint was always quietly pissed afterwards. It never quite made sense to Phil until he woke up one morning to voices.

"They're starfuckers, Clint," Natasha was saying as Phil crept toward the kitchen.

"I can't have a one night stands?" Clint asked.

"You don't like one night stands."

Clint was quiet a long moment. "Yeah…"

"What about Phil?"

"Coulson?" Clint repeated. There was a long pause. "We're… friends. Nick told him I was bi, he hasn't… he doesn't seem interested."

"You could ask him. You have drooled on the man."

"That was one time! And after Steve and Pietro had me doing sprints all day."

Phil smiled at the memory. Clint had come out of the shower, sat down on the couch, and two minutes later, he'd fallen asleep. Yes, he'd drooled on Phil, but he'd been adorable. Clint was an infuriating combination of adorable and sexy.

"Still, ask him…"

"He'd probably say no," Clint replied.

"No, I wouldn't," Phil said, letting himself speak up. 

Clint jumped, chair clattering to the floor as he twisted. "Damn it, Phil, Warn a guy!"

Phil couldn't help, but smirk, thinking of all those times Clint had scared him. "Payback's a bitch, Barton. You going to ask me out?"

"No," Clint said, crossing his arms and looking stubborn.

"Guess, I'll have to ask you then. Dinner and movie?"

"I will hurt you, if you say no," Natasha growled. "I like Phil."

"Then you date him," Clint said, turning to look at her.

"James would be upset," Natasha replied with an easy smile. "He's not the sharing type. Otherwise, I would gladly make myself a harem."

Phil blinked. "No offense, but I'd probably be more interested in the other members of your harem."

"None taken," Natasha said. "I hate to point this out, but you haven't gotten him to agree yet."

Phil glanced back at Clint. "I noticed, he's doing the glaring thing he did when he was thirteen and trying to intimidate me." Phil paused looking at Clint. "Unless you had a crush on me back then?"

"No!" Clint spluttered.

"Not until he saw you in uniform," Natasha added.

"Natasha!" Clint glared at her.

"Clinton!" Nick yelled from his room. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

Phil grimaced and caught Clint doing the same. He met Clint's eyes and smiled at him, arching an eyebrow and waggling.

"Fine, I'll go out with you," Clint relented. "Only because I know Tasha will tell Nick and then those two will team up on me."

"Nick would also make an excellent addition to the harem I can never have." She paused, frowning. "I may have to rethink this whole dedication to James thing."

"Where are you taking me?" Clint asked.

"Pho Sure," Phil replied, because he knew it was Clint's favorite. "And I think we can come back here and watch something on Netflix."

"Sounds perfect," Clint replied.

Phil had delighted to admit that Clint was right. He was also pleased to discover that he could get Clint to make even more noise than with his other partners. Then there was Clint's flexibility. 

He glanced around Clint's room, pictures catching his eyes as Clint slipped out to go to the bathroom. He recognized most of them, but the one that grabbed Phil's attention was the one of Natasha and Clint, clearly a selfie and what looked to be Michael Phelps in the background. Phil reached over and picked it up for a closer look, yep, that was Phelps.

The bedroom door opened and closed and Clint dove back into bed, crowding up behind Phil and attaching his mouth to Phil's neck. Phil gasped.

"You can not be ready to go again!" Phil groaned out.

"Not really, but I kind of want to make out," Clint said, mouthing his way up to Phil's ear and along his jaw.

Phil closed his eyes and reveled in the feelings for a long moment. "Where… Phelps?"

"Hmm?" Clint asked, adding a bit of teeth.

Phil reached back and tried to shove the picture between them. "Where?"

Clint sighed, backing away to look at the picture. "Rio."

Phil turned to look at him. "Rio?"

Clint nodded.

"Why were you in Rio?"

"The Olympics." Clint laid back on the bed, looking completely innocent.

Phil hesitated.

"If we're together in four years, you can come with when I got to Japan."

"You're going back?"

"Hell yeah, with Kate on the team, we're taking all the archery golds home."

Phil blinked. "Are you saying you're an Olympic-class archer?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it that," Clint said, pushing up and kissing Phil. "I'd say I'm an Archer with Olympic Gold."

Phil's eyes widened as he considered the information. "You're still a brat."

Clint laughed, tugging Phil down. "That's why I like you, Phil, so charming."

**Author's Note:**

> We are always accepting new prompts at our tumblr account, so feel free to drop by with a little headcanon or ask.


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